Eliana Willis

‘ZDNET Recommends’: What exactly does it mean? ZDNET’s recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.ZDNET’s editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form. Close More

Kevin Carter/Getty Images Businesses run on the Internet, but enterprises that take security seriously use software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs) to create virtual private connections. This approach enables them to use their internal network services over the Internet without anyone looking over their virtual shoulders. Now, MetTel, the managed network service, is working with Starlink […] More

Don’t miss this Sam’s Club membership to save big on everything from groceries to electronics. Sam’s Club/ZDNETA Sam’s Club membership will get you discounts on groceries, clothing, electronics, and just about everything else you might need. And right now, StackSocial is offering a deal that will get you a Sam’s Club membership for $25 for the year with auto-renew — down from the usual price of $50. That’s 50% off. Your Sam’s Club membership will work at nearly 600 US Sam’s Club locations. This deal is only open to new Sam’s Club members in the US, or those whose membership lapsed more than six months ago. The membership will expire one year from the activation date, and will automatically renew at the full price of $50 per year after that unless you cancel it. To cancel, you can visit SamsClub.com or a club or call 1-888-746-7726. To take advantage of this deal, you’ll redeem your unique code through the link above, and then sign up for the membership. Once you purchase your code, you must redeem it within 30 days. The limit is one membership per person, but you can buy an additional membership as a gift.I signed up for a similar deal for a Costco membership through StackSocial, and can confirm the process was easy, and I’d vouch for the deal. Don’t miss out on 50% off a Sam’s Club membership right now.  More

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETThe biggest benefit of using an AI chatbot is being able to input and receive conversational queries. Combine that with real-time access to the Internet, and you have a more efficient search engine. That’s exactly what ChatGPT Search is — and now you can make it your default search engine. With ChatGPT Search, your results look similar to those of the standard ChatGPT chatbot. The major differences are that it includes in-line citations to websites, a button that says “sources,” which, when clicked, will populate a long list of links on the right, and a couple of search result links underneath the answer. Also: ChatGPT has officially replaced Google Search for me – here’s whyChatGPT Search can be accessed through the regular ChatGPT interface as long as you are a ChatGPT Plus or Teams subscriber or were on the waitlist for SearchGPT. If you have access to ChatGPT Search and are ready to commit to always using ChatGPT instead of Google, you can do so by installing the free Chrome extension. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman calls the feature “really good” and encourages users to subscribe to ChatGPT Plus, which costs $20 per month and comes with other perks such as the new Voice Mode, Canvas, and unlimited image generation, and download the Chrome Extension. hey i’m really sorry to keep hyping our own product but you really should get chatgpt plus and install the chrome extension for searchi am cheerfully the first to admit when we ship something that isn’t very good, but this time it’s…really good— Sam Altman (@sama) November 1, 2024

If you are ready to make the switch, it’s easy. All you have to do is visit this link, which will take you to the ChatGPT Search page on the Chrome web store. If you are already in ChatGPT, you can also click on your profile in the upper right-hand corner and click on the option “Download Chrome extension,” which will take you to the same page.  More

Amplify your dev work with this deal on Visual Studio Pro 2022 right now.  StackSocial Having in-house development is a massive advantage for many businesses. And having software on hand to help streamline workflows, amplify productivity, and keep projects on track is a must — especially when you can get it at a discount. Right […] More

If you’re shopping for an iPhone, you may be asking yourself a combination (or all) of the following questions: How much storage should I buy? Should I buy an older model for less money? Is the “Pro” model worth it? And should I spring for the iPhone 16 during Black Friday phone sales? That’s because the iPhone lineup is more convoluted than ever, with Apple now offering a total of 13 models, not counting the refurbished ones, on its website and in stores, with the arrival of the new iPhone 16 line.Also: The best phones: Expert testedWhat is the best iPhone right now?ZDNET’s mobile experts carefully test every iPhone model at release, putting them through their paces to provide you with the best advice on which model to buy and the key features to look out for when you do. Currently, our pick for the best iPhone of 2024 overall is the iPhone 16 Pro Max More

Get a Babbel lifetime language subscription at a big discount right now.  StackSocial Learning a new language can be daunting. But right now, you can buy a lifetime subscription to Babbel Language Learning from Stack Social that lets you choose from 14 languages and access more than 10,000 hours of online language education for $150 — […] More

Jack Wallen/ZDNETCertain communications I send require extra security, also known as encryption, which most Android email clients cannot deliver. Encryption ensures the emails I send to specific recipients can only be read by those with a matching key to decrypt the contents of the email.You’ll need a third-party app for this level of security on Android. For encryption in email, you’ll require a different email client, as Gmail won’t cut it. I prefer Thunderbird on Android because it’s an outstanding email client, works with PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), and is an open-source application.Also: The Thunderbird email client finally landed on Android, and it was worth the waitThe app I chose for encryption on Android is OpenKeychain. This tool makes it easy to add encryption to Android.Let me show you how it works.Installing OpenKeychainWhat you’ll need: The only thing you’ll need is an Android device (phone or tablet) and a valid Google account. That’s it. Let’s make some encryption magic. More